Eastern Ukraine: 13 Deaths a Day since Cease-Fire

According to the UN, the fighting in the Eastern Ukraine has killed 13 people a day on average since the Sept. 5 cease-fire, for a total of almost 1,000 deaths. The total cost of the conflict is over 4,300 victims, including many civilians.

At a time when the cease-fire is more fragile than ever, UN High Commissioner on Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein announced the human cost of the conflict in the Ukraine on Nov. 20. Between mid-April and Nov. 18, 4,317 people died (including the 298 passengers and crew members of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17) and 9,921 people were wounded in the eastern Ukraine in the fighting between the Kiev forces and the separatists.

“Civilians continue to be killed, unlawfully detained, tortured and disappeared in eastern Ukraine” says the report, which condemns “serious violations of human rights by armed groups.” In Donetsk, 1,700 civilians (including 22 children) and separatists have been killed, and some 850 more in Lugansk, according to the report written by 35 UN human rights observers in Ukraine. The report emphasizes that this is “a prudent estimate” but “the real figures on the number of victims could be higher.”

The press statement, which quotes Ukrainian emergency services, also points out a sharp rise in the number of displaced people in Ukraine. They numbered 285,489 on Sept. 18 and the number had risen to 466,829 two months later, on Nov. 19.

Despite the truce, 957 people were killed in the region, an average of 13 victims a day. On Nov. 20, the Donetsk separatists reported one death and three wounded in their ranks over the previous 24 hours. In the Lugansk region, a 58-year-old nurse was killed and another civilian injured in the bombing of a village. The Kiev forces reported six wounded.